Lattice

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT LATTICE - PAGE 5

The city is set to accept ownership of the 200-foot-tall transmission tower on the grounds of its public works center at Cass Avenue and 55th Street. The metal, lattice tower belongs to the University of Chicago, which built it in 1992 on land leased from Darien. The tower hosts a microwave link between the university's Chicago campus and its billing center in Darien. But a planned switch from the microwave link to a fiber optic connection means the university no longer needs the tower.

Following a Plan Commission recommendation, trustees have voted to allow the installation of a 90-foot cellular tower at 1 N. Grace St., near St. Charles Road. Cellular One had sought a conditional use to build a 100-foot lattice tower in north Lombard, but agreed to install a shorter monopole. The board approved the revamped proposal 4-2 last week. Cellular One officials said the structure will be used to provide service in what they said amounts to a cellular dead zone in central Lombard.

Tollway officials may modify plans for a 150-foot cell tower they want to build in a residential area near 55th Street and Interstate Highway 294, Village President Jack Lynch said Tuesday. In August, the tollway proposed building a lattice tower on its land near Birch Lane in the Ridgewood subdivision. But Lynch said tollway officials had offered to comply with a new village ordinance and build a monopole instead. Tollway officials, he said, might seek a variance to allow a tower of more than 100 feet, the maximum height allowed by the ordinance.

Lombard's Village Board voted Thursday night to send a proposal for a cellular antenna back to the Plan Commission for reconsideration after the company requesting permission to erect the tower agreed to revise the plan. Cellular One Chicago had sought a conditional-use permit to build a 100-foot lattice-type tower in north Lombard near Grace Street and St. Charles Road, but it instead has agreed to a thinner, 90-foot structure. The company also has promised to landscape the area to the south and east of the tower's base.

The Lombard Village Board agreed Thursday night to postpone action on a proposal to erect a 90-foot cell tower because of the absence of a trustee who represents that area. Because Trustee John Jaugilas could not attend the session, the board agreed to postpone action until Dec. 5. The board had been expected to follow a Plan Commission recommendation and allow the installation of the tower at 1 N. Grace St. near St. Charles Road. The initial tower plan proposed by Cellular One Chicago was rejected by the Plan Commission earlier this year, but the firm agreed to revise the plan.

Making nuclear power plants crash-proof to an airliner attack by terrorists is impracticable and it's up to the military to avert such an assault, the government said Monday. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in a revised security policy, directed nuclear plant operators to focus on preventing radiation from escaping in case of such an attack and improving evacuation plans. The agency rejected calls by some watchdog groups that the government establish firm no-fly zones near reactors or that plant operators build "lattice-like" barriers to protect reactors, or be required to have anti-aircraft weapons on site to shoot down an incoming plane.

Western Springs trustees have approved new height restrictions on cell towers that they hope will force state tollway officials to scale back plans to build a cell tower near a residential area at the southeast corner of Interstate Highway 294 and 55th Street. In August, tollway officials proposed building a 150-foot cell tower on property it owns near the village's Ridgewood subdivision. Tollway officials have said that the tower would serve private cellular telephone companies in addition to handling state police communications.

The Lombard Village Board voted Thursday night to approve a proposal to forbid the installation of cell towers in residential neighborhoods and limit their height and design in other areas of Lombard. The regulations will allow only monopole antennas of up to 100 feet in height to be placed in the village. The village staff said the guidelines also called for the towers to be installed at least 500 feet apart to avoid clustering and mandates the removal of any tower after 180 consecutive inactive days, according to village documents.